Needle making machine



Oct. 17, 1933.

A. HOFMANN Er AL 1,930,755

NEEDLE MAKING MACHINE Filed Sept. 18, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l 6 Y 122 l Zic?!- J6 W Q f I J4 x 0 IN VEN TORX .iff/Z0 /70/(070/7/7 @Sw/)7 Kan/LY B Y WMM/W A TTORNEYJ` Oct. 17, 1933. A. HOFMANN Er AL 1,930,755

NEEDLE MAKING MACHINE Filed Sept. 18, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TORf Wffea/ Hoffman/7. @sw/'0 Wan/ls;

f ATToRNEYf Patented Oct. 17, 1933 P ATE NEEDLE MAKrNG MACHINE Alfred Hofmann, Palisade, and Oswin Kanis, Lyndhurst, N. J., assignors te Alfred Hofmann Needle Works, Inc., Union City, N. J., a corporation of New `ersey Application September 18, 193i) Serial No. 482,818

11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in needle making machines and contemplates, particularly, the provision in such machines of improved mechanism for forming the butt on a needle blank.

The present invention is in the nature of an improvement upon the machine disclosed in our prior Patent No. 1,696,484 granted to us December 25, 1928, but the structure constituting the present invention may be utilized in other needle nia-king machines. In the machine disclosed in our said patent, the butt is formed on the blank while it is held in one of the chucks or workholders, this step in the process of making the needle being taken after the blank has been submitted to a number of other operations.

We have found that in a machine of the type disclosed in our said patent in which needles are manuiactured by a continuous operation, it is a great advantage to form the butt on the blank in the early stages of the process. One particular advantage of forming the butt upon the blank before it is transferred from station to station in the machine is that the blank will always be positioned accurately in the chucks or work-holders. This is especially important at those stations in the machine where the blank is Vsubmitted to milling or grinding of its sides or top.

lGui' present invention also departs structurally from the buttdorming mechanism disclosed in our prior patent and represents, now, a simple and efficient mechanism which may readily be associated with needle making machines of any type.

To make our invention perfectly clear, we have appended hereto drawings illustrating the pres-V ent preferred embodiment of our invention. These drawings are, however, only illustrative and we do not limit ourselves to the details of construction'therein disclosed. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in other forms without sacricing any of its advantages or departing from the scope thereof as donned in the appended claims.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the buttorrning mechanism of our invention;

2 is a plan view of the structure disclosed in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective View of the essential operating parts of the butt-forming mechanism; and

Fig. e is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing the position of y from the needle carrying jaws.

the several parts at the time when the butt is actually formed.

We will conne the present description to the butt-forming mechanism which is the essence of our invention. T'or a complete understanding of the operation of the needie making machine as a whole,` we refer to our prior Patent No. 1,696,484 in which a type oi' machine is disclosed in considerable detail. Among the parts of the machine disclosed in our aforesaid patent there is a transfer bar provided with needle carrying jaws which transfers a needle blank Afrom one operating station to the next, each station beingprovided with a chuck or work-holder which receives the blank 'Z0 Referring to Fig. 1 ci the drawings, the reference character l indicates a transfer bar which is provided with needle carrying jaws The reference character 3 indicates a chuck or workholder which may be or" any suitable construction and which is designed ecurely to hold the needle blank while it is subjected to the action of any one of the operating instrumentalities. The mechanism constituting the present invention will be located at or near that end of the machine where the wire is fed, it being our purpose to i'orm the butt on the blank in the earliest stage in the manufacture or the needl. As in the machine disclosed in our aforesaid patent, the rst step in Vthe manufacture oi the needle after cutting the blank is that of rounding the butt end. This operation is performed while the point of the blank is heldin the jaws oi the chuck 3, which by reciprocating motion presents the butt of the blank to a suitable grinding wheel. i rotated by a pulley 5 which is driven by a belt 6, the belt receiving its motion from any convenient part or" the needle making machine.

In Fig. 4, we have shown in dotted lines the position of the chuck 3 and the needle blank during the butt grinding operation.

Immediately after the butt has beenrounded orf, we bend the butt by the mechanism now to be described. A mandrel or bending block 'l is adjustably mounted by means of a slot and bolt connection 8 on one end of a bracket 9 which is pivoted as at 10 to a lug 1l supported on the base of the machine. rThe other end of the bracket 9 is con- 105 nected to the base of the machine by a strong spring 12, the purpose of which is to maintain the mandrel in its uppermost position during its co action with the huttbending instrumentality hereafter to be described. A suitable adjusting screw 13 is provided to limit movement of the bracket about its pivot.

The purpose of the pivotal mounting of the bracket 9 is to permit downward movement oi the mandrel 7 after the butt has been formed on the blank so as to assure clearance of the blank when it is removed by the needle carrying jaws of the transfer bar. rIhis movement of the mandrel is eiiected through a cam 14 which actuates a lever 15 secured to the bracket 9, at one side of the pivot. The cam 111 is rotated by any suitable means from any convenient part of the machine and operates the lever 15 at a predetermined time, that is to say, immediately after the formation of the butt and when the blank is engaged by the needle carrying jaws to be transported to the nextsucceeding opera-ting station. Figure 1 shows the position oi the various parts subsequent to the formation of the butt on the needle blank. The arm i6 which carries the bending roller and presser foot is moving upwardly away from the mandrel 7 the cam 14 has begun to move the arm 15, which through its connection with the pivoted mandrel support 9 is moving the mandrel 7 away from the needle blank with a View of enabling the blank to be withdrawn without interference between the butt of the blank and the mandrel.

The butt-bending instrumentality comprises an arcuate bracket 16 pivoted at 17 to a suitable standard 18 mounted upon the machine base. et its forward end the bracket 16 is provided with a slot 19 through which passes a presser foot 20, the upper end of which is secured in a lug 21 fastened to the bracket 16. A suitable coiled spring 22 is interposed between the lug 21 and the top of the housing through which the presser foot passes.

Immediately to the rear or the presser foot, we have provided a roller 23 suitably jcurnaled in the bracket 16, as for example, by a. bolt 24. The roller 23 operates to roll down the end of the needle blank over the mandrel 7, thus forming the butt on the blank. By an inspection of Fig. 4 the operation of the mechanism in forming the butt will be readily understood. The ligure discloses the parts in the position they occupy at the instant when the roller 23 has completed the bending of the butt and while the presser foot 20 is still cooperating with the mandrel 7 to hold the blank in position.

The bracket 16 is swung about its pivot 17 to bring the butt-forming mechanism into operation by means of a suitable rod 25 which is connected to a lever 26 provided with a cam roller 27 which rides on the periphery of a cam 28. The cam roller is pressed tightly against the cam by the action oi a spring 29 secured to one end of the lever 26, the other end of the spring being suitably fastened to the bed-plate of the machine or other convenient part. The cam 28 is provided with an actuating part Si) which depresses the lever 26 and therefore swings the bracket 16 downwardly. 'Ihe result oi this movement of the bracket is to bring the presser foot in contact with the needle blank and the bracket continues its downward movement until the roller has rolled down the butt.

During this continued movement the coiled spring 22 is compressed, thus adding to the force with which the presser foot 2G retains the needle blank in position.

The operation of the mechanism thus described will be readily understood from an inspection or' Figs. 3 and e. By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the needle blank, designated by the rererence character N, is resting on the mandrel 7, a portion of the blank project-ing beyond the end of the mandrel. When the blank is in that position the cam 28 effects downward movement of the bracket 16 whereupon the presser foot is brought into Contact with the blank and the roller bends over the projecting end of the blank. This part ci the operation is clearly disclosed in Fig. 4. The butt having been `formed, the bracket 16 is elevated to its inoperative position and thereupon the lever 15 is actuated to depress the mandrel 7, in the manner heretofore described, to provide clearance for the needle blank when it is being withdrawn by the needle carrying jaws 2 for ransfer to the next operating station.

What we claim is:

1. In a wire-bending machine, a forming-block, an arm movable to any away from the block, a roller pivotally supported by the arm and operative to bend the wire during movement of the arm towards the block, and a presser foot yieldngly supported on said arm and cooperative with the block to clamp a wire blank during the bending operation.

2. In a wire-bending machine, a forming-block, a movable arm, a wire-bending roller pivotally supported on said arm cooperative with said block, means to actuate the arm to bring said bending roller into coactive relation with the block, a presser foot carried by the arm in advance of the wire-bending roller and adapted to cooperate with the block to clamp the wire blank prior to and during the bending operation.

3. In a needle-making machine, a butt-forming mechanism comprising a forming-block, a swingable bracket adjacent thereto, a bending roller and a presser-foot carried by said bracket, and means for swinging said bracket to bring said presser-foot into cooperative relation with respect to said block to hold a needle-blank in position thereon and for actuating said roller to form a butt on said blank.

4. In a needle-making machine, a butt-forming mechanism including a pivotally mounted forming-block, a needle-blank carrier beside the forming-block, means cooperating with said block to form a butt on a needle-blank, and means for pivoting said block after the butt-bending operation to provide clearance for said needle-blank.

5. In a needle-making machine, a butt-forming mechanism including a pivotally mounted forming-block, a needle-blank carrier beside the forming-block, means for maintaining said block in xed position during the butt-forming operation, and means for pivoting said block thereafter to provide clearance for the needle-blanks which have been operated upon.

6. In a wire-bending machine, a wire blank support, a forming-block adjacent said support, a roller cooperative with the side edge of said block for bending the wire blank, and means for moving the forming-block away from the wire blank after the bending operation.

7. In a wire-bending machine, a Wire blank support, a pair of cooperative wire bending members comprising a forming block and a bending element coactive with the block, said members being pivotally mounted in opposing relation adapted to operate upon a wire blank, and means for moving the respective members away from the wire blank following the bending operation.

8. In a wire-bending machine, a wire blank support, a :forming block adjacent said support, wire-bending means cooperative with said block and mounted for swinging movement relative thereto, the forming block being pivotally mounted in opposing relation with the wire-bending CIJ CII

means and adapted to be moved away from the wire blank following the bending operation.

9. In a wire-bending machine, a pivotally supported forming-block, a swinging bracket carrying a bending roller and a yieldingly supported presser foot, means to swing said bracket to bring the presser foot and bending roller into operative relation with the forming-block, and means to move the forming-block 0n its pivot following the bending operation to provide clearance for the wire blank.

10. In a metal bending machine, a forming block having upper and side faces7 an arm movable to and away from the block, a bending roller pivotally supported on said arm and coactive with the side face of the forming block to bend a piece of metal thereagainst, a member opposite the roller coaetive with the upper face of the formed by the movable arm to permit relative movement between the member and the roller, whereby the member will hold the metal against the forming block during movement of the roller along the side of the block.

11. In a metal bending machine, a forming block having upper and side faces, a roller coactive with the side face of the forming block to bend a piece of metal tliereagainst, a member adapted to press the metal against the upper face of the forming block during the bending operation, a movable actuating and supporting arm for the roller and the presser member elements, one of said elements being supported by the arm to permit it to move relative to the arm and the other element, so that the member may be stationary and press the metal against the forming block during bending movement of the roller.

ALFRED HOFMANN. OSWIN KANIS. 

